junko/chiaki (hi i've been devouring your spotify playlists)
Hiii!!! I'm very flattered you've been listening to my playlists!!! Thank you!!!
Now onto Junko/Chiaki :D!
This is maybe my favorite Junko ship (up there with my guilty pleasures, Junkomaeda & Junkan). I have wrote so much about them, they are sooo interesting. They change a lot depending on the universe you put them in, and a lot of what I like about them are stuff I concocted in my head, but honestly? I do think there's a solid basis for them in canon.
I'm going to talk about about what they're like in canon & then thoughts about my favorite AUs about them!!!
I think it's clear Junko has something of a fixation on Chiaki in DR3. They're both set up as foils to each other in a way, too: Junko gives the class despair, Chiaki gives them hope; they are both adored by the class (though one through genuine bonds and the other through brainwashing), and their deaths affected the class very much so. But where Junko is remembered by the world, Chiaki is forgotten, only remembered by those closest to her. It's very tragic; but I like the angle of Junko thinking, "The world won't remember you, but I will." It's definitely very interesting to consider.
Another thing about this ship is that Junko canonly kills people she loves/is interested in. I don't think she's to the point of fully loving Chiaki yet, but I do think she's a little bit obsessed with her—infuriated at her hopeful shtick and wanting to crush it, and fascinated with her in the same breath. On Chiaki's side, she's determined to defeat Junko, who is the only person we really see her get that angry with.
In my version of DR3 in my head, Junko Enoshima, I feel like, killed Chiaki Nanami because she was a threat, too. A threat not exactly to her plan, but to her ideology. She does the same thing to Makoto Naegi in DR1; I think she can't handle people who are so fundamentally opposed to her worldview that they disprove it. She wants to make them despair, to prove to herself that she isn't wrong; she needs to eliminate them because they threaten her sense of self. But I think in that way, even though Junko Enoshima “wins” physically against Chiaki, I think she also “loses” philosophically the moment she is threatened enough to decide to kill Chiaki. Especially in an AU without the brainwashing video; in such an AU, Junko would try to bring Chiaki into despair with manipulation, fail, and then try to kill her because she was too troublesome—is that not the definition of a sore loser?
What if I hated you and you hated me and we were both AIs based on dead girls in a killing game and we kissed 😳😳😳
If we take into account DR3, Chiaki and Junko in this game is a rematch. One that Chiaki wins. Sure, she still dies again, but this time she's able to save her friends. Junko can't sway them because of Chiaki. Chiaki won.
If we don't take into account DR3, and we interpret Chiaki as only an AI, Chiaki (imo) becomes the kindness the remnants never had. In that narrative, the remnants were all vulnerable people that Junko took advantage of because the world was cruel to them, but through Chiaki, through one kind person, they find hope at the end of the game. It's a message that kindness is enough. Even one kind person can change someone's fate. In that way, she also foils Junko: Junko took advantage of the SDR2 cast, showing them kindness only to manipulate them, but Chiaki is genuine. She wants to help them, and that's why she's kind. And that kindness is enough in the end.
I think the two most compelling AUs I'd want to talk about is despair!Chiaki and the AU I wrote where Chiaki murders Junko. First, despair!Chiaki.
It's so compelling to have such a kind character & to see someone corrupt even that. I definitely think there's ways to do it, too; post-execution, after being betrayed by her friends, for one, or maybe preying upon Chiaki's abandonment issues, or exposing Hope's Peak to her to ignite her righteous anger towards them. You could even have her realize what Junko was doing & her try to stop her, only to get suckered into her world, corrupted by the violence she starts to favor towards Junko, her methods getting more and more extreme as they escalate. It's very interesting to think about, though I admit there is something equally compelling (to me) in the idea of Junko doing all of this, trying all these angles to corrupt her, and her still remaining good. That's good too, I eat that up. I definitely think in a lot of these cases/scenarios where Junko's methods did work, Chiaki would have a love/hate relationship with Junko. She hates what she's done to her, but she can't help but love the “only” person she feels still loves her. In this type of universe, I think “committing atrocities as their silly little activities” & “sicko 2 sicko communication” are applicable.
Then you get to “Chiaki kills Junko” AU, which is one of my favorites I've written; it's so interesting. Killing your girlfriend to save the world; putting the good of the many over your loved one; or maybe you're just angry, angry that she hurt you and that's why you did it; hurt and grief and anger that she left you when she promised she'd stay, even though you know it's illogical because you are the one who killed her… I could go on.
I also think a almost comedic dynamic of the two of them trying their upmost to kill each other but both failing would be kind of hilarious.
They even work very well in a non despair AU. I could see them being very fluffy and cute in such a setting, even. There's a lot they could relate to, so it would be interesting to see them in a healthier setting/dynamic too.
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